Ask the Author: Catherine Isaac
Answered Questions (3)
Catherine Isaac
Good question, thank you. The idea for the story came to me a few years after someone I know discovered that his mother had been diagnosed with Huntington's disease. I was struck by the ripple effect of this devastating condition - the fact that every child of an HD patient has a 50% chance of inheriting the faulty gene that causes it. I was very much inspired by the families within the HD community that I spoke to as part of my research. I was struck by their often remarkable outlook, the determination to live life to the full, even if the future remained uncertain. It was this that drove my ambition to write about an inevitably challenging topic with a lightness of touch. I wanted to make readers laugh as well as cry, to escape with my character Jess to France and ultimately deliver an uplifting message.
Catherine Isaac
Writer’s block is a luxury I can’t afford - that’s the one downside of that exquisite moment when you get to hand in your notice on the day job and become a full-time writer. Strangely though, the threat of not having enough to pay your mortgage still isn’t always enough to get the creative juices flowing, so I have a couple of techniques up my sleeve for those days when I’m feeling less than brilliant. My first line of defence is to go for a long run; there’s something about having a good soundtrack on my headphones, miles of stretching roads ahead and nothing else but my own thoughts for company that really works for me. If I ever break a leg, my career will be on hold.
Catherine Isaac
Expectation by Anna Hope, Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens and A Ladder to the Sky by John Boyne - I'm making my way through his entire backlist after being mesmerised by The Heart's Invisible Furies
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